Measurement of the permeability and resealing time constant of the electroporated mammalian cell membranes

In this study a new method is presented for measuring the transient permeability of mammalian cell membranes to sugar and electrolyte molecules based on the volumetric response of cells subjected to electroporation. The time constant of membrane resealing was determined independently by flow cytometry using a fluorescent dye as the reporter molecule. The volumetric and dye uptake data were analyzed with a model relating the cell volume changes to the solute transport across the reversibly permeabilized cell membrane. The experimental approach developed here might be useful for estimating the amount of electroinjected molecules, which are difficult to measure directly.